Hollywood is once again making movies child's play.

Several movie adaptations of popular children's books are set to come to life on the big screen; the latest in this tried-and-true trend is a live-action adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are," which hits theaters today.

The film is based on the classic children's book written by Maurice Sendak, which only contains ten sentences. However, director Spike Jonze, who is most known for his work as director of 1999's "Being John Malkovich" and numerous music videos, has turned it into a 90-minute feature film.

The story of "Where the Wild Things Are" follows Max, a young boy in a wolf suit, as he dreams of his own fantasyland to take him away from home when he believes his parents don't love him anymore. While in this fantasyland, Max becomes ruler after conquering a group of "wild things."

The film is not the first to tread on familiar ground of children's books and it is certainly not the last. Look for more movies in the future to bring familiar tales to the big screen. For example, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," a book by Roald Dahl, will hit theaters as a stop-motion film directed by indie-darling Wes Anderson on Nov. 25. And next year, audiences will surely flock to see Tim Burton direct Johnny Depp in his take on Lewis Caroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

Lynne Tharan, Uniontown Public Library Director, feels it's natural for children's books to be turned into major motion pictures.

"There's so much good [children's] literature out there," Tharan said. "[Making that literature into movies] started with the Harry Potter trend and continues. The movies revive children's imagination."

John Riddle, head librarian at Penn-State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, said he believes the reason for the success of "Where the Wild Things Are" has been its ability to span generations, often as a bedtime story, which is exactly what makes it appealing to the movie industry.

"You can hit that young generation and the boomers, which is a filmmaker's dream," he said.

Riddle believes another reason filmmakers choose something as well known as a popular children's book is because it can presale the movie. Movie related merchandise can also help the movie's cause. Magazine covers, Halloween costumes and clothing have all been released as tie-ins with the "Where the Wild Things Are" film.

"The book has always been popular," Riddle said. "It's a natural vehicle to turn into a movie. This has always been the way: find a well-known vehicle, like a record or videogame, or in this case a book."

Fred Adams, Professor of English at Penn-State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, called Sendak's tale "basically a children's classic" with a lesson inside: Max's story of taming the wild things is symbolically taming Max's own behavior.

"If you do act up [like Max], it doesn't mean your parents don't love you," he said.

Adams said Hollywood studios have wised up to the types of wide audiences they need, meaning R-rated movies are no longer being churned out like in the past.

"There's a large market for this fare: family movies," Adams said. "[Films] adults can sit and watch with their children."

But for that to work, Adams said, films based on children's books have had to utilize sophisticated filmmaking and stories that can appeal to both children and adults. The result is a film both young and old can watch without being bored.

And while purists may argue about seeing a film rather than reading a book, the film adaptations usually mean a spike in interest in the source material.

Since Sendak's book "Where the Wild Things Are" has been consistently popular, Tharan said it's hard to say whether the Uniontown library has seen an increase in checkouts in advance of the movie release.

As to its popularity after "Where the Wild Things Are" hits theaters?

That's another story altogether.